一個發(fā)表過13篇Science文章作者的建議

近日，有朋友有文章擬投Science，需要找專業(yè)人士修改寫作和英語語言，我找了一個發(fā)表過13篇Science和Nature文章的老外 (文章被引次數(shù)2.4萬次)，求教如何寫作Science和Nature文章。畢竟，要想在Science和Nature發(fā)表文章，除了有非常創(chuàng)新的idea，有新意的研究結(jié)果，還需要有很好的writing。Writing不僅僅是英文語言語法問題，更重要的是文章的邏輯、文章的組織、文章的寫作。比如Introduction如何寫，需要寫幾段，每一段寫什么內(nèi)容，都應(yīng)該有一定的章法。

下面是該教授給出的建議：

第一段：提出一個有普遍意義的理論（broad theory），闡述為什么這個理論重要。

第二段：詳細(xì)介紹你本文要研究的科學(xué)問題；之后，讀者才會知道你的研究結(jié)果是如何與“有普遍意義的理論”相聯(lián)系的。

第3-5段：把現(xiàn)有結(jié)果按照第2段科學(xué)問題的順序排列，讓每一個結(jié)果都能夠清楚地與研究假說相匹配。

最后一段：給出一個“大結(jié)論”（big conclusion）；是否有“普遍意義的理論或假說”被驗證或部分被驗證？同時提出本研究可能的缺陷(caveats or drawbacks) ；最后給出本研究對于未來研究的意義，即下一步需要做哪些工作。

下面附上該教授給我的回復(fù)，供大家寫作Science和Nature文章時參考，相信很有參考價值。

To get accepted at Science, it has to be written very concisely and clearly. Your manuscript gets bogged down in a couple places and loses its focus.

So, before I start detailed editing, I want to clarify the organization. Please rewrite it following this very specific formula:

> First paragraph: State the broad theory and why it's important. Your first paragraph is already reasonably good, and you can leave it for now.

> Second paragraph: State precisely the questions you will address in the paper. After this, the reader will know exactly what your results will show and how they relate to the overall theory.

> Paragraphs 3-5: Present results in the same order you state the questions in paragraph 2. That is, make it clear that each result address the hypotheses posed. (The number of paragraphs should match the number of main results.)

> Final paragraph: State the big conclusion. Was the theory confirmed orrejected? (Okay if some parts were confirmed, other parts not.) Mention caveats or possible drawbacks. Then give a broad statement on implications or future work. What is needed next?